In the Tiger's Cage
by samettikettu
Summary: Luffy longs for the days when Ace still laughed and smiled. But things aren't the same anymore. Now with Ace so cold and hateful, his only remaining company is his bodyguard. But maybe that will change. One day, he finds a wounded man in a back alley who has a story to share. What sequence of events will rise from this encounter? [AceLu, KiddLaw, AU]
1. Chapter 1

**[A/N+NOTICE] HELLO PEOPLE OF THE INTERNET. THIS IS **Ame** SPEAKING.**  
**AS YOU CAN SEE THIS IS A COLLABORATION STORY BETWEEN ME AND MY LOVELY FRIEND, **TheEmoChild (former PiratesHeart)**! WE WILL BE WRITING A CHAPTER AT A TIME, I WROTE THIS CHAPTER AND SHE WILL BE WRITING THE NEXT ONE, AND SO ON. **

**WE ARE BOTH VERY EXCITED ABOUT THIS STORY AND I HOPE THAT YOU GUYS WILL STICK WITH US TILL THE END! :D _ENJOY!_ **  
**Characters (c) Eiichiro Oda**  
**Story (c) ~samettikettu (Ame) and maybe TheEmoChild (Mochi) too...  
No beta used, only two stupid Finns messing around. X"D(Perkele!)  
**Also a big thank you to **Anjelle** who helped me with the Summary. O sweet Arceus how I hate Summaries!

* * *

"_Run Trafalgar! This is the only chance you've got!"_

_._

_._

_._

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"_Don't mind me, I'll be okay. I'm tougher than I look like, now __**RUN**__!"_

_._

_._

_._

Charcoal eyes gaze the scenery as the owner of those eyes looked for a place to hide. He had been running for what felt like ages but he still didn't feel safe. He could tell he was running down with a fever by the way his breath was released with the short gasps and he was sweating bullets. It was hard to breathe and all he could see were just blur shapes.  
It was a few hours after midnight and the world was cold and silent, just like the man himself was. It was raining and the man was soaked down to his skin. He shivered from both the fever and the coldness. He wanted to stop and rest but he knew that couldn't do that, he'd die if he was found. He had just committed the worst crime a human being ever could commit.  
He had taken somebody's life.  
He had murdered someone who _deserved it_. He had murdered the person who had made his last eight years miserable and horrible. He had felt a sick kind of satisfaction when he had pushed the dagger straight through the man's heart and he felt the blood of the man, who had forced him to suffer so much, splatter on his face. When the man had gasped for air through the damaged throat, he had twisted the blade and forced it go deeper into the man's chest. Soon the man had grown silent as the blood ran down from his parted lips and the sunglasses fell off revealing the man's blue dead eyes.

His master was dead.  
He had finally ended the eight years of terror of his life.  
He was now free.

Shouts from the distance made the youth snap out of his daze.  
He had to hide!  
Through his dazed gaze he could see a dark alleyway on his right. He noticed a rather large dumpster, filled with the garbage of the restaurant at the other side of the tile wall. The youth made a dash to the alleyway and hid behind some boxes next to the dumpster against the wall.  
He held his breath as he heard the men pass the alleyway, never minding the dirty alley.

The boxes covered the youth from the pouring rain but not entirely.  
The youth shivered from the cold and as the rain drummed the box over him, he was lulled to a restless sleep.

'_Just a quick nap. Then I will be okay again. I will get out of this city and live freely again, just like all those years ago.'_

* * *

"Maaah, Lucciii... I can take care of myself! I don't need you to escort me home from school! It's embarrassing! And annoying", the short young man muttered the last part to himself. The tall, well-build man said nothing as he proceeded to walk next to the young teen.

"Can't be helped, Young master. Your brother gave me the strict order to walk you to school and back home every day", the man answered keeping his eyes on the road ahead. A white pigeon cooed on the man's shoulder. The teen pouted.

"I don't need him to baby me, as if he cared a crap about me anyway."

"You know that that is not true, Luffy-sama."

"It's true and stop calling me that! It's _Luffy_, just Luffy!"

"Orders are orders, Luffy-sama. Being the younger brother of Portgas D. Ace you are very valuable to the business world when your brother steps down."

"I don't want to take over that stupid business! It's boring, Ace can have it."

"Young master-"

"Oooh! Apples! Can we stop and buy some apples?!"

"You know how your chef feels about you having snacks before dinner."

The young, raven-haired male pouted some more and gave his bodyguard a sideways glance that was meant to both pleading and intimidating but the man took no notice of it.  
This teen was Monkey D. Luffy, he was a noble raised by his older brother, Portgas D. Ace who ran a big and important corporation in the business world and someday Luffy was to take over the corporation. But unlike was expected, Luffy didn't want a life like that. He didn't like the idea that his future was decided for him. He wanted to be free and live like he wanted but as he was a noble he couldn't do that.

Luffy gazed longingly at the little kids playing with a big orange beach ball at the park he and Lucci passed. The kids were years younger than him and were having a blast.  
Oh how Luffy wanted that.  
The teen was lonely.  
He didn't have any friends and his supposed-to-be big brother paid no attention to him. The older man acted coldly towards him and whenever Luffy tried to starts a conversation, Ace would throw him a cold glance that made the teen's voice die down in his throat. Even the man's presence gave him the shivers. Yes, he admitted, he was a little scared of his older brother. He did love and look up to him, but at the same time he was terrified of the man.

Luffy remembered the time when Ace was still warm and nice.  
His brother would laugh with him and come up with new games to entertain them both. But that was many years ago, many things have changed since then, especially them. Ace had become cold and distant while Luffy had become lonely and miserable, but still he would smile. He wanted to bring other people joy that he couldn't experience himself.

"Luffy-sama?" a deep, rough voice startled the teen from his musings. Luffy shifted his eyes from the kids to the man next to him. The man looked down at him a blank expression but deep in his eyes Luffy could see the man worrying over him. The teen hadn't realized that he had stopped and had concentrated on the playing kids. Lucci gazed at the playground and then his eyes fell back on Luffy, he sighed.

"Wait here."

Luffy nodded and followed the man's back as he went back to where they had come from. Shrugging to himself, Luffy continued to watch the playing kids.

There were four boys on the playground, all throwing the big beach ball to each other, laughing all-heartedly. The ball was thrown from boy to boy, letting all four throw it to the boy next to them. Suddenly one of the boys threw the ball too hard and it flew over the one who was supposed to catch it. It fell right next to Luffy's feet and the said then looked the ball curiously. He heard one of the boys yell him to pass the ball back. The youth stepped back and kicked the ball back to its owners. The boys all yelled their 'thank you's and were off to continue their game.

A small smile grew on Luffy's lips ad he felt his chest warm up by the compliments he had just received. He had managed to make someone happy and it felt great.  
But still, Luffy wished that he could join the boys.

An apple appeared in Luffy's vision, making the teen step back by the sudden appearance. He turned and saw Lucci standing now in front of him with a paper bag full of red apples. The man held out an apple in front of Luffy's eyes.

"Here, but don't tell the chef that I bought these for you." Lucci dropped the apple which Luffy quickly caught before it touched the asphalt. Big brown orbs grew bigger in realization and the childish face lit up to a big smile.

"Thank you Lucci!"

Then there was Rob Lucci.  
A bodyguard, assigned to watch over Luffy day and night. The man was Luffy's only company but the fact that he wasn't entirely alone made the teen happy.

Ace had hired Lucci five years ago, a month after Luffy's twelfth birthday. At first the teen found the bodyguard's nonstop following and company bothersome and a little weird but after some time he grew used to it. It still did bother him though that he wouldn't be allowed to walk around the mansion's own garden without his escort.  
But he had company and a friend, if the man could be called one.

"Do you think Ace is home?" Luffy asked while munching his apple. The bodyguard shrugged.

"Your brother is a very busy man, Young master. It could be possible that he's working overtime again."

"Stop calling me Young master!"

"I'm afraid that I can't do that, Luffy-sama."

"You're enjoying this, aren't you", Luffy growled. The man had a small smirk on his face, proving the teen's suspicions right. "You bastard…"

A faint groan made Luffy stop his eating and throw a glance at the alleyway on his right. He frowned as he saw nothing but a dirty alley, soaked boxes and a smelly dumpster. Then he heard the groan again, but a bit louder than before. The teen turned to the alleyway and tried to locate the source of the noises.

"Luffy-sama, it's dangerous to go wander off to a dark alleyway like that. You never know what lurks in there." Lucci stood by the opening of the alley and stared after his master worriedly, debating whether or not follow his master. Luffy ignored the man's calls and stood next the dumpster. His eyes widened.

There, under the wet boxes, lied a man.  
The man was completely soaked and had a faint blush on his face. Luffy could see that the man had troubles with his breathing and he was clutching to his chest desperately.  
The teen moved closer and moved the boxes so he could see the man more properly.

The sight made him gasp.  
He now saw that the man's right side was covered with blood. The man's leg was twisted into a weird angle and his right trouser leg was ripped to knee, showing the thin shin covered with deep cuts.

"Lucci…" Luffy whispered loud enough for the man to hear, but also loud enough to make the injured man snap his eyes open. Such a pierce glare made the teen flinch but he didn't back away. They two males stared each other and soon Luffy felt a cold sweat run down his back.  
It was like he was face to face with a wounded animal, a wounded _dangerous_ animal. The man's charcoal eyes were sharp and it felt like the man was reading him like book, or at least trying to. A slight confusion crossed the man's eyes but his glare didn't falter. The man bared his teeth and snarled, it sounded like a growl a cat beast would make when it felt intimidated.

_Like a wounded tiger._

_Backed up in its cage, wounded._

Lucci appeared next to Luffy and threw a glance at the man on the ground. He tried to pull his master back but the teen didn't budge.

"Young master we should go. It's not safe."

The teen crouched in front of the man, the _tiger_-man tried to move away but couldn't. He made a pained groan but kept his eyes on the boy. Luffy tilted his head and gave the boy an innocent and sincere look. The man's eyes widened because of the boy's facial expression. The noble was worried about him? Could it be? Could the little noble be worried over him, a dirty slave?  
No that couldn't be it.

"Are you okay?"

The man blinked.  
_What?  
_This noble boy just asked if he was okay. This had to be a joke of some kind. Nobles never cared about their inferiors. They only cared about themselves and their status.

"Are you okay?" Luffy repeated his question. He knew his question was stupid given the state the man was in but he didn't know what else to ask him. He didn't know who he was but he wanted to help him. The teen turned his head to side and met Lucci's gaze.

"We have to help him."

"No."

"Lucci! This man is hurt, he needs our help!" Luffy's voice was stern and demanding. He wouldn't leave this man here and bleed to death! "Can't you see how bad he looks! He has a fever and is severely injured. We **need** to help him."

"But Luffy-sama, this man could be a dangerous criminal. He'd try to kill you when you turn your back to him."

"He wouldn't do that. I trust him."

The statement caught both of the older men off guard. The man on the ground thought that the noble was an idiot for trusting a complete stranger but then again he was taken aback by the determination in the boy's voice. This noble kid really was something else.

Lucci wasn't convinced so easily. He kept towering over the crotched teen and gave the half-conscious man a cold stare then he looked down at his master who kept his eyes locked to his.

"I will take full responsible of him."

Lucci sighed. It didn't matter if he fought against Luffy the teen wouldn't let things go when he had decided something.

"Your older brother is not going to like this, Young master."

"Put the blame on me. I'm the one wanting to help this stranger, not you."

"He will be mad for me letting you do this."

The young noble laughed all-heartedly, surprising the injured man. This boy was truly something else. He was putting his social status in danger because of him and didn't even seem to mind it.

"Ace is always mad at me anyway", Luffy turned his head back to the man on the ground. He had a warm smile on his lips as he spoke to the man.

"My name's Luffy. I'm taking you to my place where I will treat you back to health. Nice to meet you."

The half-conscious man didn't say anything but closed his eyes and nodded.  
He trusted this boy.  
He'd worry later about the outcome but now he wanted to sleep. Before he fell into unconsciousness again he heard the boy say something to the older man and felt himself being picked up gently. After that the darkness took him in.

** xxxxx**

The trip to Luffy's family mansion was short and fortunately for them the streets were empty at that moment so no one was there to witness an important noble boy helping his bodyguard carry a bloodied, unconscious man to his mansion.  
Luffy opened one of the big twin front doors to the mansion and closed it quickly after Lucci. It looked like they were the only ones in there at the moment. The bodyguard walked up the staircase to the second floor where all the bedrooms were, the teen followed suit. They walked down a long corridor and Luffy stopped to a door and opened it.

"Let's put him here", the teen told Lucci and let the man in to a big bedroom with its own bathroom. Across the corridor was Luffy's bedroom, so if the man needed something he'd just need to take two steps and knock on his door.

The injured man was laid on the king-sized bed and the teen rushed to the bathroom to get towels and some hot water so he could wash the dirt and blood off.

"We need a doctor, Luffy-sama. I could take care of the cuts and bruises but somebody needs to tend on that broken leg and his fever. I shall call Doctor Kureha."

Luffy nodded to Lucci and proceeded to clean up the man's bruised body.  
The teen gently wiped the man's face, revealing a tan brown skin and a small stubble. The man had dark bags under his eyes and just now Luffy noticed two golden earrings in both of the man's ears. The teen took the liberty to remove the man's torn shirt. He gasped when he saw the chest. The man had a big heart-like tattoo on his chest and on his both biceps, but the thing that made Luffy gasp in horror was the old scar that ran down the sternum and the teen could only see why the heart-tattoo was done on top of the scar so that it was in the middle of it.  
The raven-haired teen shook his head and continued to clean the man. He found more old scars but they weren't as bad looking as the one on the chest.

When Doctor Kureha came in, Luffy had stripped the man on his briefs making the doctor's job easier.

"He's very lucky that you found him, kid. Any longer and he would be knocking heaven's doors." Kureha said when while putting her instruments away. She had fixed the man's leg and stitched some of the bruises.

"He's lucky enough to survive from those bruises on his body alive but that fever would have killed him. Make him take this when he wakes up and for the next week give him one of these after every meal", the Doctorine gave Luffy a small medicine bag.  
"They will ease his pain help his healing process. "

"Thank you Kureha-baachan!" the noble beamed and hugged the old woman. The woman laughed and called the boy 'cheeky bastard'. After letting go of the woman, Luffy told Lucci to fetch his wallet from his room across the corridor and pay the doctor for her services. Kureha was surprised, usually the eldest of the two brothers paid her but Luffy told her that his brother didn't know about the injured man. The woman nodded and thanked the bodyguard when he handed her the money. She wouldn't ask or tell, it was the bond of secrecy between a doctor and her client. She gave her farewells and left.

Lucci eyed his master which Luffy caught with a sideway glance. "What?"

"I am very proud of you, Luffy-sama", the bodyguard confessed with a gentle smile. Luffy felt his cheeks heat up and he scratched the tip of nose, laughing sheepishly.

"But how are you going to tell this to Master Ace?"

"I will think of a way later, now we need to let him to get his sleep", the young man dodged the question and started to push his companion out of the room. Luffy threw a last glance to the bandaged man under the covers and closed the door.

Just when the door clicked close, charcoal eyes opened taking in his surroundings. The man was surprised by the doctor's gentleness. He felt better but not so much that he could sit up so he kept lying on his back. He had felt the noble kid's eyes on him the whole time the doctor had examined him. The boy was genuinely worried over him. This whole thing felt too suspicious but the man wanted to think that this was real. He _wanted_ to believe that he had been found by someone would treat him like real person and not like trash, but that was what he had hoped last time too and see where it took him. He became trash, a slave of a sadistic man who liked to play with human lives.

But this boy, no teen felt somehow different. Honesty shone from his eyes and the atmosphere around him yelled sincerity and care but deep in his soul he carried something big. Something so big and tiring, which wasn't meant to be shared with anyone. Not even he could tell it and he was really good at reading people and telling their personalities after meeting the person for the first time.

This teen was truly intriguing.

The man closed his eyes and let the painkillers lull him to sleep. No pain and no worries, he had earned his rest.

* * *

Luffy sat on his bed and hugged one of his pillows tightly against his chest.

His brother had come home and soon he was going to dine with him. The young noble couldn't remember when was the last time he had dined with his brother, given that he was constantly working or meeting some other business men around the town or going abroad to take care of something.  
So it was pretty understandable that Luffy was nervous. He had brought an injured man into their house, who was now lying unconscious in one of their many bedrooms. He had no idea who the man was, what was his name nor how he ended up in such a state.

But being a caring person as he was, Luffy wasn't going to allow Ace to throw the man away. At least not while he was still injured.

"Luffy-sama", Lucci knocked the door and entered. The said noble lifted his gaze from the bed sheets to Lucci.

"The dinner is ready."

** xxxxx**

Lucci escorted Luffy downstairs to the big dining hall. The boy seemed utterly nervous and the way he kept glancing at his bodyguard even made the older man feel a little jumpy. The taller man opened the doors, revealing a beautifully designed dining room with a big table at the centre of the room. There were many chairs placed at the table but only one of them was occupied.

A man, in his early twenties, looked up from the today's paper and gave the youngest of the room an intimidating look.  
Portgas D. Ace was in the house.  
The man had just come back from work, meaning that he hadn't had time to change from his business suit but he had thrown the blue jacket on the back of the chair on his left and opened four top buttons of his white dress shirt. The tie lied on the floor.  
Ace had long, wavy hair and freckles on his cheeks, which gave him a childish look but his cold black eyes killed that.

"It's good to have you back, dear big brother", Luffy managed to voice out without stuttering. Ace eyed him but said nothing, he proceeded on reading his paper.  
The younger of the two brothers exhaled and gave his companion a sad smile. Lucci returned it with a soft pat on his shoulder. The man held out the chair to his master and bowed, then taking his place by the door guarding the two masters.  
Luffy was sitting at the opposite side of the table, straight in front of Ace. He thought about a great start for a discussion but he came up with none. So, as uncharacteristic as it was for him, he was quiet.

Soon the food was brought in.  
Luffy eyes mouth watering the meat that was held in front of him. It was no secret that he loved meat above everything. Anything that contained meat was his favourite.  
He wanted to dig in but when he felt the cold, piercing stare on him, he drew back. His brother was very strict about table manners, no one was allowed to start to eat before everyone in the table was served. And the chef must always be thanked for the food and effort of making it.

The chef, along with two other cooks retreated back to the kitchen and Luffy felt the eyes leave him. Now he could start eating, and he did.

The dining was silent.  
Usually Luffy was a messy and noisy eater but this only happened when his brother wasn't joining him. Even the chef felt uneasy back in the kitchen, but not as uneasy as Lucci who was witnessing the whole ordeal in person. But he knew his place and stayed put.

"So, umm…" Luffy tried to start a conversation, after emptying his mouth of course. "Ho-how are you?"

"Good."

"G-good! That's good…"

Luffy poked the potato on his plate with his fork with a frown on his face. Yet again he had failed with a conversation started. _'Why do I even bother to try…' _He always questioned himself, but he knew the answer already.

"Stop playing with your food."

"S-sorry!"

Ace stared his fidgeting brother.  
There was something the younger was hiding from him. The younger had always been bad at hiding things from others, especially from him, and even worse at lying.

"Luffy", the older started. Luffy's head snapped up as he heard his brother say his name. How long had it been since he had heard those lips spell out his name?  
But that thought left him when he saw the look on the man's face.

"What are you hiding from me?"

The younger brother could feel the blood draw away from his face, leaving him white as a sheet. His hands started to shake and his palms were sweaty. He was shaking and he had problems with his breathing.  
He swallowed.

"No-"

"Don't you _dare_ to lie to me Monkey D. Luffy. I can clearly see that you are hiding something from me", Ace stated with a stern voice. Luffy winced, his brother had just used his full name, meaning that he was seriously upset. There was no point in hiding it anymore. The teen took a big, shuddering breath and-

"We found a wounded man back from the alley while I was escorting Luffy-sama home from school. The man was seriously injured and you brother wanted to help him. I carried the man home, Doctor Kureha treated him a while ago and he is sleeping in one of the bedrooms upstairs. I take a full responsibility over this and accept my punishment."

Luffy stared his bodyguard jaw nearly hitting the floor.  
The man had stepped besides him and took the full blame to himself.

'_What are you doing?!'_ Luffy was screaming inside his head. The look on his face was pretty much saying what he thought, since Lucci flashed him a sideways grin and bowed his head down. The young noble slowly turned his head back to meet his brother's icy eyes.

"Is that so…"

"Yes. I don't expect you to go easy on me, Master Ace, since I let a total stranger come into your household", Lucci went on.

"Fine. When he awakes, throw him out and escort yourself out while you're at it-"

"_No brother, please!_" Luffy stood up and slammed his palms on the table, gaining both of the males' attention. Lucci had risen his head so he could see his younger master properly with confused look on his face. Ace had almost the same look as he did, but it soon changed to irritation.

"What do you mean 'no'?"

"It was my fault! I pleaded Lucci to let me bring the unconscious man to our manor, I wanted to treat him back to full health! Lucci wasn't going to let me do it but still did! Please don't blame him from what I've done. If anyone needs a punishment, it's me. And I won't let you throw the man away when he has regained his consciousness! I can't let you do that! He'd die! Kureha herself said that he was close to death out there!"

Lucci could only admire the younger's courage to step against his brother like that. He could see from his shaky figure that the boy was deeply scared of the outcome but didn't mind it.

Ace stared his brother, eyes locked on the boy's big, warm brown ones. He too was surprised since he hadn't been expecting such a reaction. His eyes sifted from Luffy to Lucci's, who held his gaze for a moment then lowering his head back down to bow.

"Fine."

Luffy perked up but held his stand.  
He still couldn't let a smile grow on his lips.

"The man can stay, but when he awakes I demand a full questioning. Lucci, you shall be the one responsible of that", the said man nodded his head when he straightened. Cold eyes moved to meet the warm ones.

"And what comes to you, Luffy. You are responsible of that man during his stay here. I do not want to see or hear from him while I'm here. And as your punishment of being reckless and standing up against your superiors, I order you to skip the next three days meals", with that Ace thanked the chef and exited the dining room. The chef came to Luffy and took away his still half-full plate, giving him an apologetic look. The teen slumped back down on his seat and let out a shuddering breathe. That had been _horrible_! Not to mention that it cost him three days' meals.  
But looking on the bright side, Lucci wasn't fired nor was the injured man thrown away.

Lucci sat down on the chair on the teen's right. "Luffy."

Flashing a brilliant, but tired, smile Luffy laughed: "Hey you called me by my own name for once!"

"I do not know how to thank you Luffy."

"It's nothing. A low price for me to keep my only friend here with me and an innocent man alive."

"You really are something else, Luffy-sama."

"Ah! No no don't go there again! It's Luffy! Just Luffy!"

"Fine, Luffy. I shall call you that when we are together but when we go out or someone else is in the room, I will call you Luffy-sama or Master."

"That's fine by me."

"So, shall we go up and see if our guest is up?"

"Yup!"

Before they left the dining room, one of the cooks came to them with a tray full of food. The man said that Luffy's speech had touched them all so that they wanted to help the young master with feeding the injured man. Lucci took the tray and Luffy thanked the cook, telling him to tell his thanks to the other chefs too.

The duo walked quietly to upstairs and down the corridor in front of the room that held the injured man inside. Ace's bedroom was at the other end of the second floor so they weren't concerned about meeting him here. Luffy opened the door for Lucci and they went in.

There, on the bed, leaning against the pillows, laid the man Luffy had rescued earlier.  
The man was awake and eyed the two new people in the room with a great interest.

Luffy closed the door and stood beside Lucci.

"Umm…" the noble teen started.

Charcoal eyes examined him carefully but didn't find anything.

"My name is Monkey D-"

"Monkey D. Luffy, yes I know. You told me your name earlier." the man on the bed stated. Lucci's grip on the tray tightened. Luffy only nodded and smiled to him.

"Great! You remembered my name! This man here is Rob Lucci. He's my personal bodyguard and friend. He's got food for you! Oh, and in that bag on your right, on that nightstand, are some medications the doctor ordered for you to take after every meal for the next week. Oh and also take that now that you are awake!" Luffy pointed the small medical bottle with one red pill inside. The man gave the teen a suspicious look but took the bottle. He had heard what the doctor had said so he had no point to doubt the teen for giving him some sort of a drug.  
He opened to bottle and gulped its insides down.

Lucci walked carefully closer to the man and placed the tray on the bed. The man eyed the bodyguard and took the tray when the man had put some distance between himself and the bed, resuming his place next to the teen.

The man was amused.  
They treated him like a wounded animal.  
He liked it.

"So umm… Could you tell me your name, since you now know ours?"

The man looked down at the tray, noticing a bread roll next to the plate. For certain reasons he did not wish to eat bread. It contained some painful memories of his past life. He took a big sip of the water glass and savored the taste in his mouth. The liquid cleaned his mouth from the blood and he could breathe again. He put the glass down and looked straight at the noble teen.

"My name is Trafalgar Law. I'm an ex-slave."

* * *

**[theEmoChild:]Hiya minna! Cx  
****I'm just a pitiful friend of Ame-sama and am utterly grateful to be able to work together with her. *bows her head humbly*  
****I don't know how this will turn out since this is my first time doing this OH WELL IT SHALL BE GREAT. *laughs nervously*****Shishi, I hope you won't judge me even though my chapters will be much more dull and worse than Ame's. But I believe everything will turn out great, since the fandom of One Piece is the greatest! Right? :3 You'll forgive me, rrright? :3  
****- Mochi (apparently a new nickname Ame gave me) is ooout! C:**

**[samettikettu:] ...I'm hungry. :B  
OMG YOU GUYS! YESTERDAY I DOWNLOADED THE CUTEST THING EVER! I DOWNLOADED SHIMEJIS! Now I have like... Four Crocodiles on my screen, three Doflamingos jumping there and here and one Strong World Luffy munching meat all too happily. I think I'm dead. They're all too cute. ;w;  
SO YEAH, **(seriously though Mochi I have no idea what you are talking about you being my pitiful friend. You've been writing longer than I have, though I have been on this site since '09. SOMEONE GIVE THIS GIRL A HUG!**), I hope you guys liked it since this collaboration is going to be 19 chapters long! YEAH! How ya like me now?! I did the planning and created this sodding plot. Mochi was the scared lab rat. X"D **

**So yeah, reviews would be nice!**

**- Ame, out~! (Holy macaroni Crocodile?! There's now SEVEN of you?! ...well, Doffy is going to have a fun night~ Fufufu... NOW EIGHT?!")**


	2. Chapter 2

**[AN] This chapter was written by the amazing and sweet theEmoChild, aka Mochi-chan. :3  
Still no beta**

Characters (c) Eiichiro Oda  
Story (c) Ame

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There was a small nettlesome noise noising through the wide, decorated room. It naturally came from the neat, handmade clock in the corner of the room. It annoyed him, though it didn't annoy him as much as the two pair of eyes staring at him in shock. So what he had been a slave? Were they going to kill him now because he wasn't as aristocratic as the other two in the room? No, that wouldn't suit the young noble's personality. Law had learned to never trust anyone, however. Who knew what was hiding behind all this kindness he received?

"So you're an ex-slave?" the one who first dared to open his mouth was Luffy. He didn't look down at the man, instead he felt empathy for the man. He wanted to help him, while in the meantime not help him too much. Helping him too much would result in having him grow angry. It was like insisting to help someone who was wheelchair bound. Always there to remind them of their boundaries.

"Yea, what about it?" Law didn't like the kind tone anymore, he was sure there was something behind this façade. There simply had to be. No one could be truly kind. The poor man had lived in paranoia too long, and had therefor grown to think like this.

"I'm afraid that I'm compelled to ask some inquires, Trafalgar-kun", the bodyguard stated diligently with a soft tone.

"What?! Why?" the noble asked, he clearly thought that would be insulting or intrusive in some manner. Well, it actually was both, so he had the right to react like that. Law himself couldn't give a flying fuck about anything though. He'd most likely be gone by the morning anyway. Staying with people too long would always become troublesome anyway. Being alone meant you had full control over everything.

"I have heard about people who act wounded to get close to people like you… Luffy-sama", Lucci hesitated a while before calling the noble in the more polite manner like always. "They rob the place or befriend the person in question to get heritage from that person. Naturally they tend to murder to receive the money more quickly."

"Don't even think of Torao that way!"

"It's Trafalgar."

"I mean Torafuga!"

"I'm sorry Luffy-sama but that'd be the most secure way. You need to know what kind of person you're letting in the household."

There was a small moment of silence when Luffy would glare at Lucci, waiting for the bodyguard to give in. He knew that Lucci only thought of everyone's wellbeing and he knew that it would be the sanest thing to do, but then again, Luffy wasn't considered sane by so many people. He really didn't want to make Torao - or Torafuga or whatever – sad or offended.

"I'm 21 years old", Law decided to break the bothersome silence, mostly because of the pestering ticking noise. He could as well tell them about it. It's not like they could find him afterwards, when he would have disappeared from the house. He looked at the two males who looked back at him, both with an eyebrow raised. "What? You most likely were going to ask about my age anyway, right?"

"Right", Lucci said and gave Luffy a quick glance, meaning that if the man himself wanted to talk then there was nothing stopping him. Luffy returned the quick glance with a small glare but then his expression softened and he looked at Law again. He had to admit that curiosity was slowly starting to bubble inside of him. "So, where are you from, Trafalgar-kun?"

"Do you want to know from where my origins are, where I was born, where I spent my childhood or where I was kept as a slave?" Law asked with an uncanny smirk upon his lips. He liked to play with the patience of other human beings. His former master could not be considered a human being though, so that was a different story. His bony, tattooed hands played with the bread roll, but he didn't even think about eating it. Never in his life would he eat something as detestable as bread ever again.

"Well, let's start with where you were kept as a slave", the bodyguard stated calmly, though he silently admitted for himself that he had been taken aback by the slick attitude. The man was calm and knew exactly what to say to avoid questions.

"The almighty, colorful, gleeful, vigorous, happy, nice and homely Donquixote family", Law said sarcastically while he ripped a small piece of the bread roll. He looked at the piece while he kept on smirking in his enigmatic manner. Luffy wasn't sure what to say or what to do, he found the man utterly odd. Lucci in other hand knew that being sarcastic and using strength in each word covered up details and emotions. The man clearly didn't want to talk about his past so much. "I had been enslaved there for approximately eight years, ever since I was 13."

"I see", Lucci replied shortly in his mannerly and couth way. He eyed the man carefully and wondered whether they could find any evidence of that on the man's body. Being a bodyguard, Lucci had naturally heard about these rich individuals who kept slaves, but there was nothing the government could do about it due to the individual's wealth and status. This way Lucci was also familiar of the fact that the intricate man tended to mark his slaves in one way or another. It could be tattoos, it could be permanent damages. Actually it could be anything the man could come up with. "Then how did you escape from that 'gleeful' house?"

Lucci decided to play the man's game by trying to be sarcastic too. His chivalrous side kept him from being as sarcastic and uncanny as the other man though.

"You know it's quite easy, there are two methods though", the tattooed man ripped another piece of the bread roll and wondered what to do with the two pieces he held in his hand. "One is that you open a door leading outside and run. The other is that you open a window leading outside and run. You can guess which I did, there's 50% chance that you guess right, you know. If I'd give you a third option there'd only be a 33,3% chance that you'd guess right. Well, want a third option? Though this option would be highly unlikely for someone who is as pacifistic as I am."

Lucci kept on looking at the male, while Luffy had fallen out of the tracks a long time ago. The man had mentioned numbers after all, and Luffy had never been so good at math. The thought of math made his head ache and therefore decided to not think of it during his spare time. Math was an infernal invention.

"Well?"

"I could naturally have blown up a wall and escaped that way too", the tattooed man threw the two pieces of bread to the floor. Suffer bitches, suffer. Bread existed to suffer. "But as I mentioned earlier, I'm utterly peaceful and would never bring myself to do something as horrible as that."

The sarcastic tone made the bodyguard doubt that highly. He wasn't sure whether the man actually was capable of doing that or not after the teasing sentence. Lucci was sure that the man was fond of irritating people though. Or maybe it was a way to protect himself from insults and questions?

"If you truly are that peaceful then I highly doubt that you would have brought yourself to do something like that", Lucci replied, growing tired of the sarcasm and the playful attitude. But this way he at least could tell that the man wasn't lying. If he would be lying, he'd gladly come up with a story and share it. The fact that Trafalgar-kun was avoiding the whole matter only proved his story genuine. "But if you managed to escape that smoothly, why were you in that condition when we found you in that alleyway? Why isn't Doflamingo-san after you?"

"I got injured while escaping. And Doffy wasn't – isn't – isn't I mean, the most forgiving person, he could lose his temper sometimes. Or should I refer Doffy as '_it_'?" he chuckled fondly to his own stupid joke. Luffy gave the tattooed man a worried glance. Had that person - what was his name again? – Dofurago hurt the poor man too? Luffy felt really sorry for him, he had lived with that bad man for eight long years. The noble couldn't even imagine how it would feel like, even though the aristocratic young man basically himself was verbally abused each day by his elder brother's cold actions.

"I see", Lucci replied shortly and gave the man a quick glance. The man was now starting to lose his poker face and the bodyguard thought that it would be more appropriate to ask something else now. They could as well ask how the shady man had tortured him later – if it even was necessary to ask. "How did you end up as a slave in first hand though? If I may inquire that, of course."

"Same classic story, my parents died in a car accident and I ran away from the orphanage. I fucking detested that place. Later on I can only blame myself for thinking so naively. Like a brat of 13 summers could live on his own", the man snorted silently as he seemed to be a tad disappointed. Why was Law disappointed? Lucci couldn't tell. Maybe it was disappointment in himself for thinking so innocently? "I was born in a family where medication was utterly important. My mother was a surgeon and my father a doctor. They were pretty cool. Oh well, they are gone now. Nothing you can do about it."

"I'm so sorry to hear about your loss, Trafalgar-kun", the bodyguard stated softly.

"Don't worry Torao-"

"It's Trafalgar."

"-I'll be your new mom! Ace can be your new dad! Though I don't think Ace is up for it… But we can still pretend!"

The noble laughed sheepishly and Law felt a weird, warm feeling spread across his body. Why was this young man, this young man who was way too fine for a slave, caring for a dirty rag like Law? It made no sense! Yet the boy seemed genuinely kind, it was almost insane. How could kind people even exist in this cruel and merciless world?

"Stop being so embarrassing, kid", the tattooed man said with a tint of red on his cheeks. Damn. Now he looked like a goddamn weakling too. Oh well, it wasn't like this could get any worse, now could it?

_"Fufufufufufu…"_

Of course it could. All this blabbering about his past just made him remember it all much clearer. The blood splattering around and the dead eyes, staring at him like a fish that had been cleaned, but still had its eyes left. The distant chuckles and the touches which felt like they still were there. The breaths which still were huskily blown into his ear. He wanted to forget every detail, but it seemed highly impossible, considering how much he was forced to converse about it.

Luffy noticed how the man had suddenly started to tremble and how his expression had changed. It was no longer calm and assuring, instead it seemed distant and even a bit frightened. Because of this the noble thought that it had been enough questions for the time being.

"Why isn't Doflamingo-san after you, though?" the bodyguard had also recognized the sudden change but needed to get this last question answered. He had recognized how the tattooed man sneakily had managed to avoid he inquiry.

"Tha-That's…" the man took a breath and bit his thumb. "That's none of your business, now is it?"

"What do you mea-"

"I think it's enough for today! Torao needs to rest, right Torao?"

The tattooed man didn't bother to answer, his charcoal eyes gazed at something the two other individuals couldn't see. Therefore the bodyguard finally seemed to agree with the aristocratic young man. Lucci nodded to Luffy who gave the ex-slave a worried glance. The man was still biting his thumb nervously while his slim yet sturdy body trembled gently. Luffy wanted to help him out of his dim misery.

"You're right Luffy-sama", Lucci smiled gently at the man who still didn't bother to answer. They had gotten him to talk – even though it all had been obvious sarcasm – but now the man had returned to his hostile self. It was a tad sad. "Let's not disturb Trafalgar-kun for the time being, he obviously needs rest."

"Right", the noble laughed sheepishly, trying to light the weird mood up a little. He failed though, since the tattooed man didn't pay him any further attention. Luffy had known all along that questioning the man would be intrusive and rude – a very bad idea. "See you later Torao!"

With a small bow the bodyguard left, following his young master who light-heartedly had skipped out of the room. Law looked after them, but he didn't bother to answer. He suddenly felt bad. He felt bad that he couldn't tell more. He felt bad that he was so asocial and rude. He felt bad that he was using some poor unsuspecting individual. He'd leave directly the next morning, not even thanking the noble for his hospitality. He couldn't help but to wonder how heartbroken the male would be, he had tried to do a good deed and here Law was ruining his pure actions by planning to leave without a word.

Law looked at the two pieces of bread he had ripped. He threw them angrily at the floor. He didn't want to eat the food that had been brought in to him. He'd only be in debt for the noble that way. Being in debt meant that you had to stay in connection with the individual in question. Law tried his best to avoid relationships and connections for now. Human beings are the most uncanny and evil creatures on planet earth. How sad it is, that it is fantasy and imagination that makes us cruel and smart. Imagination is the key to lie. Why did the human being have to possess an ability that dangerous?

He tried his best to forget. Reminiscence was the last thing he needed right now. Why did the human being possess the ability to remember? It was annoying, but utterly helpful. If you'd repeatedly forget everything you'd never learn a shit, would you? The tattooed man couldn't help but to think how unnecessary the ability was in these kinds of situations though. He didn't want to remember the cruel and hard-bitten man anymore. It all was finally over. So why did he keep on thinking of it all?

_He was hungry. He was dirty. He hadn't slept for days. His clothes were in a pitiful state. His health was beginning to become worse too. The echo created by nothing else but his own footsteps noised through the empty and dark street. It was cold, winter would start to arrive soon. In the middle of October most people would wear warm clothes and stay inside due to the rainy weather. This young man – who had a few weeks ago turned 13 – walked aimlessly forwards on the dirty and disconsolate alleyway. He had merely survived the last months. It was cold and he had to steal to get food. People looked down at him as if he didn't exist at all. Did he? Maybe everything just was a dream._

_Had he already mentioned that he was hungry? Well he was. Very hungry, to make things better. He had no idea from where to get his daily nutrition for this day, not that he had eaten properly the last days. The owners of restaurants were so greedy… Why couldn't they share a little food with a poor homeless guy? C'mon greedy bastards!_

_He kicked a stone angrily, not realizing that a big black vehicle was parked in front of him. When the noise of the stone hitting the perfect and shiny material of the car, the thirteen-year-old boy couldn't help but to notice the black car. Fear slowly took over his mind – he started to consider running quickly away to avoid any possible consequence. But the door to the car was opened before he even could move an inch._

"_Why would you do that, little boy?" a tall man with odd sunglasses stepped out from the car. The thirteen-year-old boy couldn't help but to think that the weird and intimidating was formidable. His feathery coat made him even more fearsome then he could have been. _

"_I-I'm sorry I-I didn't see your c-car there", the boy admitted shakily. He was in trouble. The man before him was most likely only smiling to hide the fact that he was pissed off._

"_Fufufufu, it's alright", the feather-guy chuckled and took a step closer to the dirty boy. His mouth was still formed into a weird smile. "You seem tired and hungry. Lost your way home?"_

"_Home? Where is that?" the boy snorted sarcastically. The man didn't seem to be pissed off after all. How odd. Well not that it mattered. As long as he would stay alive and somewhat unharmed everything would be fine. Not that the feather-guy looked like he was going to hurt anyone any time soon. _

"_You don't have a home? You lost patience with your parents?"_

_A poisonous needle of yearning pierced through the boy's heart. He missed them. He missed them so much it hurt to breathe._

"_I don't have any", he almost whispered. The feather-guy took another step closer, reaching out a big warm hand to the dirty boy._

"_There's nothing to worry about, little one. Come with me and I'll treat you some food and a shelter for the night. What's your name?"_

"_Law", he gave his small hand to the protective and tender hand reached out to him. If he only back then had known how horrifying and detestable those hands could be. How much pain they could cause. How much misery. But right now the boy couldn't care, he trusted anyone. He was naïve and unsuspecting after all. Only a mere child who did a decision he'd regret for the rest of his life. _

"_Fufufufu, I bet we'll get on well, little Law."_

Who would have thought, that a small handshake could have changed his life so drastically. His life that had ended up being nothing but misery. His life that had no ray of hope shining into it. All because of a sadistic and cruel man who liked to gamble with human lives as if they were toys of some sort. Law shivered gently at the thought of the man. He had tried his best to forget the past half hour, but all he had done had been remembering. He had remembered everything that had happened that summer and spring. The car accident in April, the funeral in the beginning of May, the orphanage with its annoying brats, the escape, the miserable weeks as a homeless naïve kid and then finally – the handshake. Looking back at everything he really couldn't help but to think of himself like the biggest idiot on earth for escaping from an orphanage like that. The most idiotic decision of his life, really. After that he had vowed to never make mistakes ever again. And yet he had ended up being like this. He had failed big time, hadn't he?

Law remembered how he naively had followed Doflamingo to his household and had lived there happily for a month or two. Then it all had begun. It had begun a normal afternoon, when Law had been studying in his room. He wasn't attending to a school, instead he was taught privately at the big mansion. He had been sitting by his desk, reading diligently and writing eagerly. Law loved to study, it was interesting and he was fast at learning things. He loved to hear the praise he received for being so smart and studious. So when the owner of the place had entered his room without knocking – Doffy always did that – Law had been expecting to hear some more praises for being so good. Instead he had been told to go down on his knees and the man had shoved his fucking dick into his face. And after that everything had been one steep downhill.

It had started off with some touches here and there and sometimes Law had been forced to wear clothes that were highly inappropriate to dress a child in. Some rare times – like the first one – he had been forced into blowjobs. It became more regular when Law grew up though. Law himself hadn't dared to do a thing, he was depending on the man after all. And even if he would have managed to run away and live on his own, the man had made it utterly clear to not go against his orders. Kick after kick, punch after punch, whip after whip. It had been more than enough to make him realize what to do and what not to do. Very easy right? All he had to do was to obey everything the sick man had in store for him. Even if it was to dance or to cut himself. It was still better than being raped repeatedly and then be beat up, only to be raped some more, all in one day.

No one else in the household had cared for Law, even though the male was completely sure that they all knew of what was going on. They had surely heard him cry, they had surely heard him scream and beg. Hell, Vergo had even stood there and watched them, not doing a thing. It angered Law. It angered Law beyond repair. He wanted to kill each one of them for not doing a shit. That was almost the worst part, they all had been aware of what had been occurring in the household, yet no one had _cared._ That fact hurt the most. How pitiful and low could the human being sink? It all seemed so incomprehensible.

Then one day – one fateful day – an uncommon individual had appeared. A new guard for the household. Doffy had hired guards to watch over Law whenever he himself wouldn't accompany the youth. The uncanny and plainly evil man had decided this after that Law had attempted to escape once. Bad decision that one, to try to escape, very bad. This one guard, had been different though. He guarded the inside of Law's room, not the outside and somehow, in a very mysterious manner, the guard and Law had befriended each other.

"_Oi, you okay kid?" the redhead asked carefully, looking at the lifeless body lying on the bed. It was his first day as a guard there and he had only been told that the young man in the bed was Doflamingo's lover. Didn't seem like it though. The young male looked pretty much dead lying on the bed like a corpse. "Oi, answer me."_

"_I'm not a kid, I'm seventeen for god's sake, almost legal you know", the teen grunted and turned around in the bed. His body looked pretty much beaten up to a state where it was unhealthy. "This?" Law had noticed the look the dumb redhead had given him. "This is nothing. I'm okay."_

"_Are you sure, those wounds look pretty bad you know…"_

"_They look worse than they are, now leave me alone I need to sleep."_

"_They don't look worse than they are", the redhead took some steps closer to the bed to get a closer look, but the teen only wrapped the blanket around himself in a protective manner. "Show them to me, I can treat them." The muscular redhead tried to pull the blanket away from the youth who then hit his hand angrily._

"_Don't touch me!"_

_The redhead was taken aback by the suddenly angry attitude. The male on the bed looked like a tiger ready to fight to stay alive a little longer. His eyes glistened dangerously, he looked like he was ready to kill. The redhead took a few steps backwards._

"_Right, sorry."_

_A brief moment passed with a long silence. The silence with filled with cute birdsong coming from the bird who had perched on the branch of the tree outside. _

"_Got any name kiddo?"_

"_It's Law and I'm still not a kid, now please, leave me alone."_

"_Not possible. You clearly need company. Tell me Law, how long has this been going on?"_

"_It's rude to ask someone's name before introducing yourself first."_

"_Right, sorry, again. I'm Eustass Kidd."_

Law remembered that day clearly. From that day forwards he had had someone to share a normal conversation with. Kidd would tell him about hockey matches going on or who recently had won some boxing match or something. Even though it had been stupid chitchat all along, he had still found himself getting drawn to the dense redhead. It had been utterly amusing when Law had been able to outsmart the redhead, though Eustass Kidd had been two years older than him and had went to school to get a proper education. It all had been a tad ludicrous in the end, as the redhead desperately had tried to outsmart Law too. He had never succeeded though.

The insane idea to take Doflamingo's life had been no one else's but Eustass Kidd's idea. When he first had come with the suggestion to kill Doffy Law had been completely against it. He had never believed that he would be capable of killing someone like Doflamingo. For him Doflamingo was a man who was unbeatable and mighty, someone who couldn't be killed, no matter what. Living with Doffy had been nothing but madness all along, so it wasn't surprising that Law himself had gained a bit of madness too. But his madness had been phobia for other humans and absolute fear for men who were bigger than him – both physically and mentally bigger. Even though Law still lived in a small fear, a small bit of the fear had been overcome when he had managed to slay the sadistic man.

_The music was drumming in the background while the man in all his might and glory sat by the armchair and drank some wine. The man didn't suspect a thing, why should he? Why should he doubt his loyal guards? Why should one of the guards hand over a knife to Law? Of course the man wouldn't suspect anything, instead he sat in the chair humming happily as if it was any other evening. For him it was any other evening, but for Law, who sweated due to nervousness, it was anything but any other evening. He held the knife in his right hand dearly, while he sat by his desk looking at the man from the reflection of the window. If the man looked right in front of himself, he could see his own reflection look at him from the darkness outside. If he let his eyes focus on the small light balls outside, the light from the city, he couldn't see his expression at all though. It all depended on what you focused on._

"_What a wonderful evening, right little Law?"_

"_Right, Doffy", Law replied shortly while he pretended to read on his book. In reality he couldn't concentrate at all though. He had to do it soon, or Doffy would notice the knide when he'd get up from the armchair to have his way with Law. "You seem stressed out Doffy, want a massage? I've studied the muscular structure of the upper back, I could try to make you feel more relaxed."_

"_Ah, yes, that would be wonderful", the man hummed happily. He didn't suspect a thing. He was just overjoyed that Law wasn't being as hostile as usually. "I really have been stressing lately. It's wonderful that it's finally Friday again. I can relax with you the whole weekend, little Law."_

"_Yes, that is going to be utterly delightful, Doffy", the youth had stood up from the chair and silently made his way to the man who continued to him happily. He didn't know anything. He didn't know that his life was going to be taken by someone whom he trusted deeply. He would never know. He would die without knowing how. A very sad death, in fact. "Would you bend a bit forwards so that I can massage you better?"_

_The man obeyed without hesitating once._

_When Law was close enough, he didn't even doubt a second. Before he knew it he had pushed the blade through the chest of the man. He had felt how it smoothly had pierced through human flesh, pierced through the big and flat epithelium cells, the flexible muscle cells and the vital stromal. It all had happened so fast, but he didn't dare to let go of the knife, not when he had come so far. He couldn't care about the blood that sprouted around in the room, as Law had hit a vital blood vessel. He couldn't care for the desperate noises the horrible man made realizing that something was utterly wrong. The man turned around, letting his tasteless sunglasses fall away, to look at his Law one last time. _

"_Sleep well Doffy."_

_And sleep the man would, as his body relaxed and fell to the floor, letting the man fall into an eternal sleep._

Law hadn't realized that he had started to cry remembering everything. It hadn't felt horrible to take someone else's life, and that exactly was the most horrible part of it. He had actually felt satisfied of taking someone else's life. But then again, was Doflamingo comparable to a common human being? Law lived in the belief that some human beings just were more evil and others. That some human beings just deserved to die. The world would be a much less cruel world without these rare individuals.

After that Law had killed his master, he had sneaked up to Kidd, who naturally had been forced to go outside to guard since Doflamingo had wanted to have alone time with Law. The redhead had been proud of Law and had helped Law to calm down, as the man had been a trembling mess. Kidd himself had made sure that the other guard wasn't present around the time Doflamingo would be killed. After a long time of just calming the man down, Kidd finally had helped him escape through the window. They had run into different directions as soon as they had made it down to solid ground. They had promised to meet again. What a childish promise, when you think about it.

Law didn't hear the faint steps outside the door, he also failed to recognize how the door was opened and how a slim individual entered the room quietly.

"Torao..?"

The tattooed man's head snapped to the side seeing the young noble next to him all of sudden. Why was he here now? It was night for god's sake! Law didn't want people to see him cry, so he quickly wiped the tears away. It had luckily been silent crying, with only tears rolling down his tanned cheeks.

"What do you want?" the reply was rude but the man didn't care. He just wanted to be alone for now, letting his thoughts fall in their rightful places.

"Is everything alright?"

Luffy looked at the man with worried eyes. He didn't answer, did he? Luffy could tell that everything definitely wasn't alright with the man. He needed help and protection, the aristocratic young male was willing to give him both. He knew the man needed it though he tried his best to sound tough and independent.

"Don't worry Torao, I promise I'll protect you from now on. I promise."

Law looked at the young noble for a long moment. He looked into the honest and sincere eyes which looked back at him with determination. He had screwed up two times in his life already. Once by running away from that godforsaken orphanage and then the other time by trusting a man who smelled trouble. Would he really be stupid enough to make the third big mistake of his life? He continued to look into the sincere eyes and the determinate expression. Then again, they do say that third time is a lucky charm, right?

"It's still Trafalgar, you know."

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**[Mochi:] Err… Hi..?  
****So I (unfortunately for you) wrote this chapter. It's utterly pitiful and can't be measured with Ame-senpai's work so… U-Uhh…  
****I don't know what to say… Ah!  
****ASLfangirl: **Don't worry about that stupid fic Dreamland. x3 I've been considering re-writing it. It disappeared from my computer (along with all of my other works). If you want an explanation to all this mess, please PM me m'kay ;)  
**So… Eh… FORGIVE ME FOR THIS SHITTY CHAPTER. *goes jogging again* Yosh! :3  
****- Mochi**

**[Ame:] ...and they say I'm the one with self-esteem issues. =3=  
You did a great job Mochi! :3 This chapter was amazing! ...makes me actually see how I suck at English and how I should learn the grammar better... Learn new words and such... I should learn 'fancy' words such as you are using... ...  
The next one is written by me, so, yeah.  
Lol, I made you kill Doffy for me, aren't I evil? X"D I regret nothing though, as always.  
****~ Ame**


	3. Chapter 3

**[AN] Yay, chapter three~**  
**Ame here, updating this fic, finally. **

**Hope you all are healthy and doing well. :3**

**Characters © Eiichiro Oda**  
**Story © Ame and Mochi**  
**Beta © Mochi (omg you are the best person alive thank you for saving my lazy ass! ;w; I adore you!)**

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Much to Law's surprise he had slept well.  
This place was indeed peaceful and for some odd reason the ex-slave felt safe there. Glancing at the clock on the nightstand on his left, the man saw that it was past midday, meaning that he had slept over twelve hours. He was actually feeling good.

Law stuffed the pillows against the headboard and pulled himself to sit against them. He groaned when his leg began to throb, reminding him to be more careful with his movements.  
He hated being bedridden but there was nothing for him to do here. He was positive that if he tried to stand he would fall back to the bed, so that was out of question. There wasn't anything to do, nothing to read.  
Hell, he would even read the Bible if it was in the nightstand's drawer! _Even the Bible_, yes he was that bored.

Just then a faint knock came from the door and a messy raven hair peeked from behind it.  
"Torao? Are you awake?"

Torao, Torao, Torao… What was it with this kid?!  
He had told him his name at least dozens of times and still the kid wouldn't acknowledge it.  
Law knew that he shouldn't complain about it, the kid had given him a shelter and medical treatment, but he was still a tad annoyed.  
"Yeah I'm awake."

The short teen let himself in and shut the door behind him quietly.  
A bright smile was plastered on his face as he made his way to the bed and sat down on the chair placed by the bed. Luffy placed an apple and a glass of water on the nightstand.

"I knocked on the door earlier but you didn't answer. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes I did, thank you for asking."

"That apple is for you. I thought you would like to eat something small before lunch, Lucci is bringing it to you", Luffy said and took a small sip from his water. Law took the apple and took a bite. It was sweet, he wasn't a big fan of sweet things but somehow he liked this apple. Funny.

"What about you? Is Lucci bringing your lunch too or are you going to eat with your big brother, Ace was his name?"

Law saw how Luffy's expression darkened for a small moment and then brightened again. His smile was fake.  
"I'm on a diet!"

"A diet?"

"Yeah. I eat too much and the chef lets me hear about it, and I heard about this new diet where you stop eating for three days and you lose 30 kilos of your weight!" Luffy said with a smile and took another sip from his drink

Lie.  
Lie.  
Everything about this teen next to him was fake. Why was he lying to him? This kid was thin as a straw! And surely the chef could buy more food, he was working in a noble kitchen for god's sake! And there was no such diet that could work that effectively, and going on without nutriments would be very crucial if it continued for a long time.  
Well, at least the kid was drinking water, so he was getting his liquids.

"Is that so…"

Luffy stared at his water and refused to meet Law's examining eyes, and just then Lucci came in with a tray. The teen sighed in relief and flashed the bodyguard a small smile. This man always knew when to appear. He always appeared when Luffy needed to get away from a hot situation.  
Lucci recognized the smile but said nothing. He placed the tray on the bed and turned his attention to Luffy.

"Young master, it's time for you to return to your studies."

"But Lucciii, I want to keep company to Toraooo", the noble whined crossing his arms and pouting childishly. Law sweat-dropped, this kid truly was something else. The bodyguard wasn't convinced that easily though.

"I'm sure Mister Trafalgar will still be here when you have finished your studies for today. Now off you go, or Master Ace will be mad."

And that did it.  
Luffy stopped his sulking and stood up from the chair, wordlessly making his way to his room thought the open door. The door across the corridor was slammed shut and Lucci sighed. The bodyguard saw the injured man's expression and went to close the door.  
"I see you have questions", the bodyguard said and sat down on the chair, which Luffy had just left.

Law played with the fork in his hand and stared at his reflection from it. "I heard that the kitchen is out of food, so now I wonder how I have this magnificent feast in front of me."

Lucci leaned back and pinched the bridge between his eyes. "Luffy-sama told you that?" the man didn't wait for a reply when he shot a sharp look at Law. "There are some things no one questions in this household. Luffy-sama's 'diets', his relationship with his brother, Ace-sama's attitude towards Luffy-sama… No one questions them, things have been like this for ages even before my arrival here."

The man on the bed frowned.  
What was wrong with these people? Sure, Luffy could be a bit annoying but he was sincere and clearly cared for everyone around him. And judging by the way the kid had talked about his brother last night, Law had thought that they had had just a small argument but clearly it wasn't just that.  
He hadn't yet met this Ace-character but he did look forward to it. Just what kind of a big brother denied food from his still-growing little brother?!

"But", Lucci's gentle voice brought Law back from his thoughts.

"But I heard from the chef, that there once has been a time when the two of them have been very close and a third boy has lived here. But then the third boy was taken away and after that Ace changed into what he's now", the bodyguard had let his guard down and the look on his face was both sad and worried. He was worried for his young master and also sad that Ace had been forced to go through all of that. What worried him most, though, was the way the older brother appeared to be attacking his own brother all the time.  
Looking up from his hands to Law, the bodyguard gave the man a sad smile.

"Luffy-sama might seem a little annoying but you are the first person to come here and act normally around him. He has been living his whole life here and he hasn't been allowed to go out and play with the other kids of his age. The people working here never pay much attention to him and his brother is always working or ignoring him. The kid is lonely and even though if I'm his bodyguard he keeps treating me like his friend, because I was the first person to actually keep him company."

"…Why are you telling me this?"

"I think it's obvious by now; young master wants to befriend with you and I can see that you hold a small interest towards him. But I'm warning you, make him feel insecure or sad, I **will** kill you."

Lucci's eyes flashed dangerously and Law frowned, still taking the warning by heart. "Understood."

**xxxxx**

Luffy had slumped on his bed after reading the book about _something and something_. He really didn't care about that right now, he was sad.  
Really, _really_ sad.

He didn't mind being denied to eat for the next three days, even though he did love food and eating as much as he yearned to go out and explore the world. But he was used to it since this wasn't exactly the first time Ace had denied something from him for some days. He was actually grateful that it was only three days. He remembered how Ace had once gotten so furious over him, that he had locked him into his room for six days and told the erstwhile-maid not to feed him for the time being.  
It had been really hard to live with only water but he had survived, luckily he had his own bathroom. He had been so bored, though during the nights the old maid had come to the door and kept him company by chatting with him through the door.  
Luffy had been really sad when the maid had retired.

The teen stuffed his face in the pillows and sighed.  
However, the thing that upset him was the fact that his birthday would be in a few days and he was sure that Ace wouldn't remember it this year either.

Last year his brother had gone to a business trip and when he had gotten back he had gone straight to his study without saying a word to Luffy. The chefs and Lucci had thrown a party for him but still, he wanted his brother to at least congratulate him.  
And the year before that was almost the same, like the years before that. He would be seventeen in few days, almost legal. When he would turn eighteen, then what would happen?

Luffy turned back on his back and inhaled, being face stuffed into the pillows for too long. His eyes stung and burned from the tears that wanted to be freed. No, he wouldn't cry! He had promised that to himself. Crying was the sign of weakness and he was anything but weak.

"Yosh! Better to start studying some more so I can make Lucci and Torao proud!" the boy giggled and climbed down from his bed. He stopped by the windowsill and stared at the photo frame on top of the sill. All motivation to study flew through the open window when Luffy took the frame and studied it with a fond smile. He took a step back, falling back on the bed.

Eyes moving from the two black haired boys to the blond haired one, a sigh escaped from the teen's lips. He turned on his side and put the frame on the bed next his head, still keeping his eyes on the three boys, bright and happy smiles on their faces.  
Suddenly feeling over-exhausted and tired, Luffy yawned and drifted to sleep. A smile found his lips as he dreamed about the days when he and Ace had been closer. He also dreamed about his second older brother.

* * *

Law stared at the eagerly talking boy with his other brow raised.  
Luffy had come into his room an hour ago and hadn't stopped talking ever since. If Law had understood the last sentence right, the boy was talking about some bird that had flown into his room through the open window and made a nest in some old straw hat that was on top of his table.

The man shook his head and tuned back in the conversation, noting that the boy had ended it. Luffy was once again drinking water and kept eyeing the bun roll on the small tray on top the nightstand. Law took the plate and offered it to the boy. "Eat it, you must be hungry."

"Uh, no thanks! I'm good", again that false smile. Law had noted that the boy was wearing it a lot, always hiding behind it. The boy took another sip from his water, emptying the cup.

"It's not healthy to go without eating for three days. At least eat some fruits or vegetables", the charcoal eyes followed the boy to the bathroom, where Luffy refilled the glass. The teen came back and smiled to the older man.

"I don't really like vegetables and we don't have fruits. I've done this dozens of times before so no worries, I just have to remember to drink lots of water."

Law frowned.  
He was displeased and disappointed. This was wrong, plain wrong.  
The kid was still growing and needed every possible nutriment to grow up healthy and strong. The boy sat back on the chair and the man pushed a plate against the teen's small chest.

"Eat it."

"I-I can't, I-"

"Eat it or I will force you", Law snarled threateningly, his eyes flashing dangerously. Luffy felt himself small and puny there under the man's gaze. Chewing his lip, the boy took the bun from the plate and began nibbling it slowly. The teen's eyes were lowered and shadowed by his front hair but it didn't stop the man from eyeing the boy like he was on his mercy.

A shot knock on the door made Luffy immediately place the bun roll on the nightstand and he quickly rubbed the few crumbs off from his face. The boy hid his face behind the water glass and drank.  
Law watched this with a deep frown.  
Lucci came into the room with a new tray.

The man nodded his head to the noble and placed the tray on Law's lap.  
"Luffy-sama, you have finished your studies for today?"

"Mm-hm!" the boy answered his mouth full of water. The bedridden man switched looks with the bodyguard, who now was standing next to the noble. A hand landed on the boy's shoulder and Lucci coughed.

"There are some bun crumbs on your lap, Luffy-sama."

Luffy quickly swallowed the water to look on his lap, finding it clean from any crumbs. Blinking, he looked up to his bodyguard, who had a smirk on his face. Luffy frowned and stuck out his tongue at the man. "Meanie!"

"Made you look, didn't I?"

"That was not funny Lucci!"

Law smirked and eyed the other bun roll on the tray. He grabbed it and handed over to Luffy who tried to look away. Instead of the boy, the other man took it and held it close to Luffy's face.  
Lucci squeezed the boy's shoulder hard to make him look at him.

"Luffy-sama, I know that your brother ordered you not to eat but doing so is dangerous. You know that, right? We won't tell on you to your brother or to anybody. We just want you to eat."

The noble teen bit his lip as he accepted the bun roll from his bodyguard. Luffy felt bad for doing against his brother's orders but he was really hungry.  
The one simple bun roll wasn't enough to satisfy his hunger but for now it had to do. Lucci had noticed the other bun roll on the nightstand and gave it back to the teen, who ate it too. Law tried to offer some of his vegetables to the boy but he had declined, stating that he didn't dare to eat anything anymore. The man didn't like it but he accepted the boy's reasoning.

**x**

Luffy had drawn back to his room and lied on his bed, facing the window.  
The night sky was so beautiful and for a moment the teen had forgotten about his whining stomach that was telling him its clear discomfort. The boy pulled his legs up and hugged himself.

_Just… Just two more days._

* * *

Law didn't like this.  
He didn't like this at all.

Luffy hadn't come out of his room for two days. Not even once had he heard the door across the corridor open nor the light footsteps that would make their way down to the hall or to his door. Not even once! The kid had locked up inside of his room and stayed there.

Not even the bodyguard seemed to be pleased by the fact that his master had locked himself in. He had tried to talk to the boy through the door but no one had answered him.  
Peeking through the keyhole, the man had seen the boy lying on his side on the bed, back facing the door.

Law was worried.  
Of course it was odd for him to experience these kinds of feelings since he had never actually cared for anyone but himself. But the knowledge that a teenage boy, who was smaller and lighter than the other boys of his age, had locked himself in his room and was forced to go on without eating was horrific even to someone stoic and cold like Law.

The kid was special, for some reason, and the injured man soon found himself missing the teen's company and happy voice. He _really_ missed him.  
That kid was the first one to ever look at him like an equal for the longest time in Law's life and treat him like a human. Luffy made him feel human again, he made the ex-slave Trafalgar Law feel like a human who was cared for and he liked it. He did not want to lose that feeling nor person who made him feel like that.

No way.

He was going to fight to keep this kid alive and existing. He _needed_ this boy to exist for if he did not, then there was nothing for Law to live for. At least not yet.

**xxxxxx**

Finally it was over.  
The horrendous waiting was finally over.

Law woke up with a start when he heard the door across the corridor being opened hastily. During his years at his ex-owner the man had developed a good hearing, a hearing almost impossible for humans to achieve. But it had been necessary for him to learn hearing when his _lovable and generous owner_ had decided to pay him a surprise visit during the silent hours of the night. The man had been able to walk as quietly as a mouse if he had wanted to and just because of that Law had had to strain his hearing so that he'd be prepared.

Listening quietly, the man heard someone tip-toeing from the room and then stopping behind his door. Then there was a silence. Law was almost certain that the boy would come in with that fake smile on his face and greet him good morning, but he didn't.  
Another pair of footsteps came from further of the corridor and became rushed when the said person apparently noticed the small teen behind the guest's door.

"Luffy!" came a hushed but startled call from the other person, whom Law identified as Lucci. The rushed footsteps stopped behind his door and he heard a faint whimper from the young noble.

"I'm so hungry Lucci… So hungry.."

"I can believe that. Hold onto me and I will take you down to the kitchen and ask the chef to prepare something soft for you."

"Is… is Ace home?" came a soft voice from the boy. It took a lot from Law not to say something highly inappropriate about the mentioned big brother, who clearly was not big brother material! To make his little brother starve like that for stating his own opinion was an outrage! But then again, the man was a noble and Law had only bad experiences of nobles so he wasn't that surprised. _'But he's his little brother! His family! Usually nobles treat their slaves like this.'_

"Yes, he's downstairs eating breakfast." Lucci balanced the boy in his arms and slowly made his way towards the staircase. Luffy nodded and weakly raised his hand up to his throat. It hurt.

"Has he said anything about me?"

"Only that you are allowed to eat again but you must remember your place from now on."

He heard Luffy hum as a response.  
The voices were now further away and finally the wing fell in silence. Law had his eyes clenched shut as he digested everything. He did certainly not like this Ace-person. He sounded like a nasty person to him, so noble-like.  
He would get to the bottom of this. He did not wish this sweet child to suffer the same destiny as he almost did all those years ago. When the boy would get back and visit him next, Law would make him talk.

**xxxxxx**

Luffy ate slowly the porridge that the chef had made just for him.  
He had to start with something soft and easy to swallow since he had lived with only water for the past three day. Though he was thankful to Torao for giving him his bun rolls, it hadn't been enough for him and as he had predicted he had become hungrier after those two poor little rolls.  
Oh well, it was better than nothing.

Carefully Luffy raised the spoon to his lips and blew. He saw from the corner of his eyes how Ace paid no attention to him and kept on reading his paper. Putting the spoon down, the little teen fidgeted nervously in his seat and cleared his throat. The older male glanced his way but said nothing.

"H-how are y-you, big brother?" Curses! He had stuttered again! He hated it; it made him sound so weak. Luffy licked his dry lips and waited for his brother to answer him. The man had gone back to read his paper.

"I'm fine."

'_Heh, he didn't even ask how I am. Typical.'_

To tell the truth, Luffy was slowly getting tired of this all.  
He wanted his brother back. He was sick and tired of these one-sided dinner table conversations where he struggled for a good starter but his brother never seemed to be interested in them. He would answer with only two or three words and then go back ignoring him again.

"Hey, Ace?"

"Hn."

"Do you know what day it is today?"

"Hn, Children's day."

"Yes and something else?"

"Nothing significantly important crosses my mind", Ace said and turned page, taking a sip from his coffee.  
He didn't see how the change on Luffy's face as the small teen felt how his world broke into small pieces. His own big brother did not care for his birthday?  
Who was this cruel and heartless person in his brother's form?!

"You are not my brother!"

Luffy hurriedly stood up, making his chair fall on the floor. He vaguely saw Lucci coming to stand next to him but didn't hear what he was saying. His eyes were on Ace, who now had finally turned his full attention from the paper to Luffy. The man seemed a tad puzzled but soon he frowned and the look on his face screamed at Luffy to dare to continue.

"What was that?"

"You are not my brother! What happened to him!?"

"Luffy-sama, please calm down."

"No let him speak Lucci, I want to hear what he has to say for himself", Ace dismissed Lucci with a wave of his hand and then crossed his arms over his chest. The bodyguard didn't like where things were going but he couldn't possibly disobey his master's orders, he almost got fired last time. So as much as he hated it, the tall man in the small black top-hat went to stand by the door with the other employees. He switched looks with the head chef and his underlings, all looking restless and a little scared for the outcome.  
The man looked back and saw his younger master take a huge gulp of air before he started his ranting.

"You never acknowledge me anymore, hell, you won't even notice my existence! You look down at me and speak lowly to me, like I'm some kind of dirt! You're away from home for days and when you get back you won't even say hello or ask me how I am – **I'm** the one doing that!"

Lucci bit his lip when he saw tears building up in Luffy's eyes. But the look on the older brother's face was solid cold, as if he wasn't hearing anything. That was what the bodyguard thought at first, but then he saw a nerve appearing on the man's temple, informing the bodyguard that the older brother was not amused and was clearly pissed off.

"And then you deny food from me! I could understand a lunch or dinner but all the meals for three days!? Heh, maybe I should be grateful that you went easy on me this time, unlike last time when you locked me inside my room for SIX DAYS. Six days Ace! What's wrong with you?!"

"What's wrong with me? What is wrong with **you**!?" Ace stood up and slammed his fists on the table, making the younger boy flinch but not back away. He couldn't. If he did now, then Ace would never pay any respect to him.

"You bring home a stray slave and slack off from your studies! You're goofing around and don't think what it causes the people to think about me and our family business! You never think about anyone but yourself! **Grow up Luffy!** You're already sixteen!"

"I'm seventeen! MY BIRTHDAY IS TODAY AND YOU DON'T EVEN WANT TO REMEMBER IT!"

Deafening silence fell upon the two men.  
The employees were looking at their two employers eyes wide and jaws nearly hitting the floor, even Lucci, who usually hid his emotions well.  
Ace was staring at Luffy so intensively that he could have drilled a hole into the boy's head. Luffy on other hand was panting, tears running freely down his cheeks.

"You never remember my birthdays, you never have. Not after that Sabo was taken away…"

"Don't you _dare_."

"You are a complete different person from what you were before Ace. I miss Sabo too and I miss you! I want my big brother back, I want that Ace back who laughed and played with me!" Luffy cried out, his voice tiny and high. For a moment, Ace was taken aback by Luffy's statement and had to blink several times before the cold look was on his face again.

"Go to your room. I do not wish to see you again for today."

Luffy didn't even need to hear him being dismissed since he already had bolted out from the room and was running up the stairs, straight into his room. He threw himself on the bed and cried into his pillows, not caring if his guest was to hear his miserable wailings.

Lucci had followed the boy's disappearing form with his eyes. He felt anger building up inside of him and dared to look at Ace but to his surprise he saw the man leaning on the table his eyes closed. Ace was biting his lip and his whole form was shaking, from what Lucci thought was anger. But then he saw a single tear fall down from the older noble's closed eyes. The freckled young man took a shuddering breathe in and slumped in the chair.

"You alright, sir?"

Ace was startled by the bodyguard's voice because he had thought that the man had followed his brother to his room. The noble covered his eyes with his left hand while he with his right one waved to the man to go after his brother.  
With a bow to his master, Lucci hurried upstairs.  
First he glanced into Law's room and noticed that the man was trying to get up. He quickly walked to him and told him to lie back down and take it easy. The injured man insisted to go into Luffy's room though.

Law just couldn't handle it anymore.  
He had been woken up from his meditation when he first had heard Luffy raise his voice at his older brother, followed by a loud argument from the both brothers. Finally after the frightening silence, Law had heard Luffy running up the stairs and barging into his own room, where he was now crying.  
That had been the last straw and Law had decided to go for the boy's aid. He wasn't good at comforting people, he had never been since no one had comforted him, but he wanted to try. He really, _really_ wanted to try.

So, with Lucci's help Law limped across the hallway and into the small noble kid's room. Lucci called for the boy but the only answer he got was a whimper and a sob. Looking up, the charcoal eyes saw the gold eyes darken with worry and sorrow.  
Helping the injured man to sit on the bed, the bodyguard left the room to get something sweet for the boy to eat.

Law was now alone with the crying mess, also identified as Luffy, and he had no idea what he should do. He had read many books about comforting people when they were in shock or were going through the different bases of shock but to deal with one in actual life was different. He wasn't actually sure if this even could be identified as one base of shock or something like that but he wanted to help.

"Luffy-ya?"

"T-to-_hic_-Torao?" Luffy peeked from the pillow he had stuffed his head in. The tattooed man had to bite his lip not to gasp when he saw the wet and red eyes. The boy tried to dry his eyes with his sleeve but new tears formed into his eyes. Luffy sniffled.

"Yes, it's me. I heard your argument with your brother. Are you alright?" Law felt stupid for asking that since the boy was clearly anything but okay. To his surprise, Luffy let out a wet chuckle and nodded his head.

"Yeah I'm okay", the teen smiled. The smile made something clench in Law and it was too painful to watch the forced smile, so he turned his head away. Luffy either didn't see that or paid no attention. "We have these kinds of fights all the time so this was no biggie."

"It sounded bad."

"Like I said, th-this i-is n-nothing…" the boy hiccupped and hid his face into his hands. To cry in front of Torao was so embarrassing! If Luffy wasn't crying already, he would cry.

"Hey", a cold hand landed carefully on the teen's head and soothed his hair softly. "It's okay. You can cry, it's healthy." Law didn't know he was capable to use such a soft and comforting voice. He continued to move his hand in the boy's hair soothingly feeling the boy's trembling calm down and the cries turned into only faint sobs and sniffs.

'_Where have I learned to comfort someone like this?' _

A sudden image of redhead and a warm smile flashed in Law's mind and he felt warm and safe there. He let a small smile appear on his thin lips and looked down at the small boy, who was trying to get rid of the tears. _'But of course.'_

"Luffy-ya?"

"Ye-yeah?"

"Would you mind telling me about your brothers?"

"M-my brothers?"

"Yes, as in plural. Lucci-ya told me that you have more than one brother and I heard you shout something about 'Sabo' when you were downstairs."

Luffy's eyes were still raw red and some snout was running down from his nostrils. Law noticed a box of paper tissues on the nightstand and gave it to the boy.  
Taking a moment to clean himself, the teen took a calming breath and coughed.

"You… You want to hear about Sabo?"

"If you don't mind sharing it with a stranger like me?"

"No no I don't mind! It's just, I haven't talked about Sabo to anyone for years", Luffy smiled then climbed down from the bed and went to the window. When he came back he had a photo frame in his hands and showed it to Law.

"This is us - me, Ace and Sabo. Sabo is that blond one in the middle. We were brothers."

Law nodded and studied the three boys in the picture. They all had wide smiles and sparkling eyes. _Sabo_ was smiling widely to the camera, his arms circled around the two raven heads' necks, pulling them close to him. He was dressed in blue and had a blue top-hat on his head, which clearly was too big for him. The raven-haired boy, on his right, had wavy hair and freckles - his smile was somewhat mischievous but happy, as if his latest prank had succeeded. He was wearing orange tank-top, black shorts and had locked his hand with the boy on the blonde's left. This boy Law recognized as Luffy.  
The boy was wearing a red t-shirt and had a straw hat hanging on his back. This photo's Luffy had his right hand locked with the other raven's and his left one was circled around the hand that was around his neck.

Altogether Law could tell that the boys on the photo were really close and dear to each other. The dark, tattooed man gave the photo frame back to the boy, who looked at it with a small smile for a moment before putting it away.

"Sabo was our cousin and he lived with us here when our parents were still alive. Sabo's parents died in a car accident when he was still little and he came to live with us. He and Ace are the same age."

"How much older are they from you?"

"Three years. I don't remember when Sabo came to live with us but I was said to be three by then so I'm not that surprised", Luffy shrugged. "Sabo and Ace were awesome big brothers. We went to adventures and played all kinds of games. We were never bored or alone."

"Is Ace your biological brother?" Law had thought about this his whole stay at the household, since the brothers had different surnames and they only resembled each other a little.

"No, Ace is my father's best friend's son. They owned the corporation together and when Ace's father passed away, my dad took him in to live with us. Ace's mom died after giving birth to him, just like mine did. Ace is in charge for the corporation till I turn legal but I have no interest in taking over that stupid old business. Ace can have it, I don't care", Luffy puffed at the end of the sentence. Law only nodded.

"So, what happened?"

The look on the young noble's face darkened as he remembered that one specific day. He hated the noble world for it. "Human hunters took Sabo away from us."

Law's eyes widened.  
Human hunters, the curse of this world.  
Human hunters were people who only cared for money and made money out of the people they sold as slaves to nobles. But the funny part was that they didn't care who they took, they just took. If the person was a noble, a stray, a child, a woman, an injured man, a family person – whatever – and they saw them as a good money source, they took them. It was rare for a noble to fall in the hands of a Human hunter but it was not impossible. They just had to make sure that no one would start asking questions about the sudden disappearance of the noble.  
Law had been extremely lucky that Human hunters hadn't found him when he had been a young boy without a home, aimlessly wandering through the alleyways to find a shelter for the night. Then again, to combine the hell he had gone through at the Donquixote household to the possible treatment he would have gone through in the hands of Human hunters…

"We were just playing, like always. My Father, Monkey D. Dragon was off somewhere around the world, signing contracts and my grandfather was in charge. Ace and I were hiding from Sabo in the forest and the next thing we hear are his cries for help. We ran up where we thought we heard the cries come from but when we got there it was too late. We didn't hear from Sabo after that", Luffy hugged a pillow against his chest. Law felt really bad for the boy.

"Was that when Ace-ya changed?"

"No, it happened after that", Luffy closed his eyes and sighed. "We told gramps what happened and he did his everything to get our brother back. It took him six months to find Sabo. But again we were too late. Sabo had been killed when he had tried to escape from the nobles he had been sold to. He had been sold to Celestial Dragons and unlike other nobles, they don't forgive someone who has disobeyed their orders so easily.

"Sabo had been shot. All we got was his body which we buried at the backyard. The shock was too much for gramps and he grew ill, soon he died too. My father was very sad and came home, Ace started to run the corporation for him. Ace became colder and more distant during the time he was in charge of the business and he was only eleven when he took over the corporation."

Law swallowed and bit his lip.  
A lot had happened to a small and young noble teen like Luffy but still the boy managed to smile.  
"What about your father? Is he still around or…?"

"A car accident. A drunk driver crushed his car into dad's and they both died."

"So now you have Ace-ya as your only living relative?"

Luffy answered with a nod and smiled. "But it's not that bad! Sure it gets lonely now and then but I still have Lucci and the chefs around. But I'm also very happy that I have you here now with me Traffy!"

The tattooed man smiled back but couldn't return the compliment, not just yet. He petted Luffy's hair and chuckled when the boy tilted his head like a puppy.

"Hey, Luffy-ya?"

"Hm?"

"Happy birthday."

* * *

Luffy stayed for the rest of the day in his room with Law.  
The boy, like always, handled the talking but it didn't bother the older man. He had never been a chatty person and he enjoyed to listen and comment something the boy had said.  
Lucci had sneaked in with the four chefs and they were carrying a big birthday cake for the young noble teen.

Luffy was amazed and actually shared a few tears of happiness with the chefs when they sang the Happy Birthday –song to him. He had thought that they all had forgotten his birthday.  
The teen didn't care that they didn't have presents for him, all he cared for was the people's company. But Lucci managed to surprise him again when he pulled out a neat looking bracelet. It was custom made and had a jolly roger with a straw hat on its head. Luffy loved it and showed it by launching himself on Lucci and hugging the man till his face was blue.

Altogether it was a fine evening and even Law enjoyed himself.  
He got to know more about the mysterious noble teen and his life and a bit more about the older brother, who he still didn't like very much. The three under-chefs got a little tipsy by the end of the night since they had sneaked some wine into their robes. The head chef was a little angry but when Luffy told him not to worry and to take some himself, the man had only sighed and opened the last wine bottle, drinking it down himself.

It was already dark when Lucci helped Law back to his room and went to help the four chefs back to their wing. Once again, the noble teen had surprised the ex-slave positively. Luffy was everything but a normal noble, he was the total opposite.  
Hearing the drunken slur of the chefs getting further and further away, Law allowed himself to relax and fall asleep. His stomach was full and he felt satisfied.

Across the corridor, Luffy sat on his bed and stared out of the window.  
He fingered the bracelet he had gotten from Lucci and smiled to himself. Sure, he was still upset that his big brother did not remember or care for his birthday, but he didn't care! He had other people who did.  
Nodding to himself, the teen stood up and placed the bracelet on the table next to his school books and went to the bathroom to wash his teeth.

When he got back to his room, Luffy turned the lights off and removed the toffee-bag from his bed, placing it on the floor where the other candy bags were. The chefs had given him sweets worth for an entire year which was awesome.  
Luffy pulled the comforter up to his nose and kept his eyes on the open window.  
Like every year, the stars would lull him to sleep.

Heavy eyelids closed and the now seventeen-year-old boy fell to sleep. He was so, so tired and he just wanted to sleep.

**xxxxxx**

A light breeze moved the blue curtains to the side and when they fell back to their place a dark figure was crouching on the windowsill.  
Carefully not to make a sound, the person moved easily from his spot to the floor and quietly approached the sleeping boy. The person stopped by the bed and looked over at the sleeping boy with a little smirk on his lips.

Covers had fallen on the floor, leaving Luffy with only his pajamas in the bed. A little shiver went through the boy as a breeze hit him.  
The person put the item he was holding on the nightstand and collected the covers from the floor, carefully tucking the boy in. A content sigh let the boy as he nuzzled deeper into the covers.

The person kneeled by the bed and leaned his elbows against it as he studied the sleeping boy's face closer.

"You're so big already. I remember when you were just a little three-year-old boy…" the person murmured softly and moved some stray hair away from the teen's face. A quiet chuckle left the person when Luffy mumbled something in his sleep and went even deeper into the covers.  
Looking to his left, the person looked at the item he had brought with him. It would be the first thing the teen would see when he woke up.

Looking back to the small teen under the covers, the man moved the tip of the cover away a bit so he could see Luffy's cheek. Leaning in, the man gave the sleeping teen's cheek a light kiss and covered the boy again.  
The person stood up and quietly made his way back to the window and climbed out. He dared the one last look at the sleeping teen and smiled. The moonlight illuminated the room and made Luffy look like that sleeping princess from that one story the person did not remember.

"Happy birthday Luffy."

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**Omake - Next morning:**  
Luffy: Lucci Lucci look! *running to Lucci with a big teddy bear in his arms - the teddy is hugging a heart that says I love you*  
Lucci: Good morning Luffy.  
Luffy: Look look! I found this from my nightstand this morning! *shows the teddy bear to Lucci*  
Lucci: Where did you get that…?  
Luffy: Like I said! I found it from my nightstand! It appeared there during the night, isn't that awesome! *hugs the teddy*  
Lucci: …. Yes, awesome. _'Better to tighten the security system since stalkers can get into Luffy's room.'  
_Luffy: I'm going to show it to Torao! TORAOOOOO! *runs off to Law's room*  
Lucci: Should I report to Ace-sama that Luffy has a pedophile stalker after him. …. Probably not the best idea in the book.

* * *

**[Ame]** **I DIIIID IIIT! **It took more time than I planned BUT I DID IT!  
So yeah, this happened. Luffy has a stalker - A male stalker! :D (Where can I get one…) Ace is still an asshole but I feel a bit sorry for him. It's not easy to be Monkey D Luffy's big brother.  
Originally this chapter wasn't supposed to be this long or end like this but I just had to but some drama into it! And that Omake… Yeah, that was also a must. Poor Lucci, it's hard to be Luffy's bodyguard, isn't it? Pedos, stalkers, creepers and other people are after your little boss. But hang in there Lucci! I'm cheering for you! Wooo!  
God I'm hungry.

**[Mochi]** Mochi has not so much to say about this chappie since she had nothing to do with it… Oh well! Good job Ame-senpai! We all need to cheer on Ame-senpai! Mochi will brutally murder those who do not cheer on her senpai! :C


End file.
